NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Shares of Barnes & Noble, Inc. (BKS) are up 2.62% to $16.08 as the bookseller says it wants a much bigger presence on college campuses, where students last year spent an average of $1,200 on textbooks and supplies, according to the College Board, Reuters reports.

Barnes & Noble, now the second largest operator of college bookstores with 696 shops, plans to have about 1,000 locations within five years, Max Roberts, CEO of the company's college business, said in an exclusive interview with Reuters at Rutgers University's bookstore in New Brunswick, NJ.

It intends to do that by getting more schools to outsource their bookstore operations with the lure of nicer, higher-grossing stores and by poaching accounts from larger rival Follett Corp, which runs 940 stores.